Les chiffres nouveaux sont arrives!

October, and all hearts turn to ... what else but the end of the Federal fiscal year? I've posted updated deficit numbers here.

Executive summary: After two years of dramatic decreases in budget deficits, the deficit this year was flat: only $14 billion smaller than the previous year. The inflation-adjusted deficit is down 39% from its peak in 2008-2009, but not quite down to its pre-recession high of 2007-2008.

Identify this garden pest

Two and a half years ago we planted two dwarf quince trees in the front yard. The first year they produced leaves and branches. The second year they produced lovely flowers and a couple of fruits, all of which fell off before reaching the size of a thumbnail. This year there were more fruits, two of which reached perhaps the size of a baseball, and were looking promising. One of them became gnarly and misshapen, but we figured we'd let it ripen and see whether it was actually being chewed up or just misshapen. The other one, as of this afternoon, had a big brown mushy spot, and when we examined the fruits, both of them fell off. So no harvest this year.

( Behind the cut is a photo of the fruit cross-section )

If you recognize this infection and can tell me what organism causes it, maybe I can find a way to kill them next year.